


Sleepy Spider

by midnightwolf2192



Series: Peter Parker and the Avengers Tumblr and Tropes Series [3]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M, IronDad and SpiderSon, Peter Parker Acts Like a Spider, Peter Parker Has Nightmares, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Precious Peter Parker, Sleep Walking, Sleepy Peter Parker, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, ironfam
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-15
Updated: 2020-05-15
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:13:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,791
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24197269
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/midnightwolf2192/pseuds/midnightwolf2192
Summary: Each Avenger can tell you a story about Peter’s unusual sleeping habits. His Spidey traits were enhanced when he was afraid, stressed or sleep deprived which led to many interesting and hilarious situations where Peter either fell asleep in, or sleepwalked his way to weird positions and locations.
Relationships: Bruce Banner & Peter Parker, Bruce Banner/Natasha Romanov, Clint Barton & Peter Parker, James "Bucky" Barnes & Peter Parker, Maria Hill & Peter Parker, Nick Fury & Peter Parker, Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Peter Parker & James "Rhodey" Rhodes, Peter Parker & Natasha Romanov, Peter Parker & Pepper Potts, Peter Parker & Sam Wilson, Peter Parker & Steve Rogers, Peter Parker & Tony Stark, Wanda Maximoff & Peter Parker, Wanda Maximoff/Vision
Series: Peter Parker and the Avengers Tumblr and Tropes Series [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1721503
Comments: 29
Kudos: 1001
Collections: Avidreaders Avengers completed faves, Avidreaders Spiderman completed faves, MCU Stories





	Sleepy Spider

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt from @i-am-headcanon
> 
> Peter sometimes sleeps in the corner of the ceiling. Each and every Avenger has already gone into cardiac arrest from walking in on that.

**BRUCE:**

Bruce was surprisingly the first Avenger to encounter Peter’s strange sleeping arrangements, and even then, it was totally by accident. It happened following a mission where Natasha had been gravely wounded, and Dr Cho had been required to place her in a medically induced coma to allow her body to heal.

She had been attempting to diffuse a Hydra bomb when 2 Hydra soldiers attacked her. She managed to overpower them, but their interference had meant that she had no time to disable to bomb. The only reason she was alive was that Spider-Man had noticed that she wouldn’t get away from the blast in time and had swung in. Peter had picked Natasha up and was swinging away when the bomb exploded. The shock wave knocked Peter and Natasha out of the air, and both were sent careening into a nearby building. Peter came out of it with a broken arm, broken ribs, and concussion but that was because at the last minute, Nat had rolled her body to protect her spider baby from the hit. She had hit the building forcefully and struck her head. When Hulk had heard that Nat and Peter were injured, he had gotten even more enraged. No one messed with his Lullaby and Spidey. After word had gotten out about the spider duos’ injuries, Hulk had single-handedly taken down the Hydra base. What had surprised everyone though was that once he had finished destroying the base, he made his way over to where Bucky and Tony were working to stabilise Natasha and Peter.

“Big Guy,” Steve had tried to interject but Hulk just growled at him.

“Tin Man,” Hulk grunted out and Tony had looked up at him in surprise. “Hulk want help. How?”

“Don’t suppose you could let Banner out. We need his medical knowledge,” Tony said, and Hulk frowned. “By the way, good job on the base Big Guy. You saved all our asses.”

Hulk smirked happily and surprised even himself by allowing the anger to fade, thus allowing Bruce to regain control.

Bruce entered Natasha’s room in the med bay and walked straight over to the bed. Despite the severity of her injuries, Dr Cho said that she was healing well. She’d spent some time in the regeneration cradle so now they were just waiting for the swelling on her brain to go down.

“Hey sweetheart,” Bruce said as he leant over the spy. He pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead before sitting down beside her. “I spoke with Helen before I came in. She’s going to run one more MRI, but she thinks she’ll be able to start waking you up either tomorrow or the day after.”

Bruce took Nat’s hand in his and pressed a kiss to her knuckles. The room was silent except for the steady beeping of the various machines around the room. Bruce kept Nat’s hand in his as he turned on his STARKPad and began reading through some research he was working on.

The room had been so silent that when a faint whimper followed by a snort was heard, Bruce leapt out of his chair with a soft scream. He quickly looked around the room and spotted Peter wedged into the corner of Nat’s room.

“What the hell?” Bruce whispered as he got his heart rate under control. Peter appeared to be sleeping comfortably wedged into the corner. A quick glance had Bruce determining that he had formed a small web to hold him in place. He smiled fondly at the super teen and now that he’d had the life scared out him, he turned back to Nat. “Well I think that’s something I’m going to need to research in the future.”

**CLINT**

Clint was next to be scared by Peter’s newfound love of sleeping in high places. Every Avenger knew that Clint had a passion for the vents in the Tower. He loved exploring them and using them to spy on people (and if he passed secrets back to Tony and Pepper about what their employees did when they weren’t supervised, who was going to tell him not too).

It was just a normal Saturday spent crawling through the vents. He had been to visit Nat, who was still technically on bedrest but had convinced Bruce to allow her to move from the bed to the lounge in the common area, and was now making his way to the gym to shoot some targets.

He arrived at the usual vent he exited from and was surprised to find he couldn’t open it. That would occasionally happen if maintenance (or Tony) decided to tighten the vent opening screws or something but Clint knew the maintenance schedule back to front so they shouldn’t have been working anywhere near the gym on this day. After a few more unsuccessful tries to open the cover, Clint let out a soft growl before crawling further down to the next vent opening. He was able to open that one and after quickly removing the cover, he jumped down into the gym.

Clint spent the next hour and a half shooting targets, the jammed cover being put out of his mind. When he was finished, he packed up his bow and arrows and it was only then that he remembered the cover. He grabbed one grappling arrow and his bow and walked over to the vent cover he normally used. That one was situated near the rafters and was directly over a large pile of floor mats (which helped enormously whenever Clint “forgot” to land on his feet). He shot the arrow into the rafters and pulled himself up slowly.

The sight that met him caused him to scream loudly (something he would later deny but Tony would have FRIDAY broadcast the footage all throughout the tower. The billionaire even had the scream turned into a message tone for his phone) and drop heavily onto the mats.

Peter had been wedged into the small gap between the vent and the rafter, webs being utilised to hold up a variety of textbooks or snacks to the ceiling. Turns out the spider child had midterm exams coming up and in his stressed-out state had been searching for somewhere quiet and out of the way to study. He had wedged himself into the rafters and while studying for his history exam, he had fallen asleep.

“What? Uncle Clint are you ok?” Peter had asked sleepily as he woke and looked down at the terrified archer on the floor. Clint could only babble out a response before he fled the gym and Peter returned to his study.

**SAM AND STEVE**

Sam and Steve were next to meet the sleepy spider. It was early one morning, around 3 am, when Sam woke and walked into the kitchen to grab a drink. He had just finished pouring his glass of water when the kitchen door opened, and Steve walked in. They didn’t turn on the main kitchen light, choosing instead to turn on one of the downlights above the kitchen counter.

“You ok man?” Sam asked as Steve walked over to the cupboard and removed a glass for himself.

“Yeah. Just nightmares,” Steve replied as he poured himself a drink of water. Sam nodded in understanding and the two men moved over to the counter and sat down.

“You wanna talk about it?” Sam asked and Steve shrugged. “Come on Cap. It will help.”

Steve started telling Sam about his nightmares, most of them focused around Bucky and watching him fall from the train. He was midway through detailing one of his nightmares when the kitchen door opened and then swung shut with a soft click. Both men turned sharply but noticed no one.

“What the hell?” Sam whispered and Steve shrugged. Sam gestured for Steve to continue and while doing so, failed to notice his glass of water disappearing. He moved his hand to grab his drink, but he found himself grasping air. “What?”

“What’s up Sam?” Steve asked as he looked to where his friend was staring.

“My drink. I thought it was here,” Sam said. He looked frantically around the counter but could only see Steve’s glass. “I did pour one, right?”

“Yeah, you must have finished it though. Its over on the sink,” Steve said as he pointed over Sam’s shoulder. The other man stood and walked over to the sink, brimming with confusion. Sure enough, the glass he had used was resting innocuously on the sink.

“But I took it with me?” Sam questioned as he grabbed the glass, refilled it, and walked back over to the counter.

“I got nothing for you,” Steve replied. He drained his glass and stood up. “Thanks for listening Sam. I’m gunna try and get a bit more sleep before my run.”

Steve placed his glass on the sink and left the kitchen. Sam watched him go and smiled.

“You’re nice Mr Falcon,” a sleepy voice from behind him had Sam letting out one of the loudest shrieks ever. He spun on his heel and without thought, hurled the glass in his hand in the direction of the voice. The glass shattered against the wall and Steve burst back into the kitchen.

“What the hell?” Steve yelled as Sam picked up one of the stools and threw it in the direction of the voice as well. “Sam?”

“Something is in here!” Sam bellowed. He picked up Steve’s abandoned glass and was about to throw it when Steve turned on all of the kitchen lights. Looking up, Sam realised there was no one there.

“Sam, I think it’s time you went back to bed,” Steve said as he too looked around the room before fixing his gaze back on Sam.

“Dude, I heard something. Someone spoke,” Sam demanded. Steve was about to say something when a soft snort was heard from above them. Sam reacted, throwing the glass at the ceiling. Glass rained down on Steve but both men (after letting out very unmanly shrieks) fled from the kitchen before they could see what had been making the noise. One very confused, half-asleep spider made his way out of the kitchen, picking glass off his shirt as he went.

**BUCKY**

Bucky was next and once again, it happened in the gym. The whole tower had heard of Peter’s sleeping in the rafters and Clint’s reaction to it. They’d also heard the story of how Sam and Steve thought the kitchen had been haunted until Tony had finally pulled up the security footage (after spending a fair amount of time laughing) and showed them that the ‘ghost’ they heard was actually Peter.

Bucky was in the gym battling some of the drone dummies Tony had invented when Peter had burst in. Bucky was about to greet him but there was a frantic, almost feral look in his eyes.

“Kid? What’s happened?” Bucky demanded. He dropped the knives he had been using and raced over to the teen. Peter grabbed his arm and was frantically looking him up and down.

“Not safe,” Peter said after a moment. “Not hurt but not safe.”

Bucky had no time to respond when Peter started pulling him across the gym. He tried to extract his arm but with both Peter’s super strength and spider stickiness, Bucky had no way of dislodging the teen without hurting either of them.

“FRIDAY call Stark. Tell him to get down to the gym NOW,” Bucky demanded. “Hey Pete, what’s going on buddy.”

“Gotta keep safe. Must protect,” Peter said as he continued their trek across the gym. When they reached the far corner, Peter turned to Bucky and fired his web shooters. He encircled the older man’s waist with webs before shooting one up into the corner. Peter then began to climb the web, pulling Bucky along with him.

“Pete, buddy. You’ve gotta let me down,” Bucky tried but Peter hissed at him.

“NO!” Peter hissed out. He reached the ceiling and Bucky was dangling helpless as Peter strung up a large web between two rafter beams. When he was satisfied, Peter lifted Bucky and placed him in the web. The teenager then situated himself in the corner of the building, his body in a full defensive position.

“FRIDAY, what’s wrong with Peter?” Bucky whispered so as not to disturb the boy. Pete’s eyes were glazed over as he shot a look at Bucky before letting his eyes dart around the room.

“Peter appears to be asleep Sergeant Barnes,” FRIDAY replied just as softly. Peter let out a hiss as he tried to find the source of the voice but when he couldn’t find it, he reacted by reinforcing the web Bucky was in with more webs. “It would seem he is sleep walking. His vitals are indicative of a nightmare.”

“Sleep walking?” Bucky asked. He wanted to say more when the gym doors burst open. Peter let out a savage hiss and locked his gaze on whoever was entering.

“BARNES? WHERE ARE YOU?” Tony called as he entered, and Peter’s body relaxed slightly but not enough.

“Far corner. Watch yourself,” Bucky called back, and Peter shot him a look. “Pete, I know you’re having a nightmare, but you need to listen to me.”

Footsteps were heard and soon Tony, Steve, Natasha, Rhodey and Sam all appeared. When Steve attempted to walk closer, Peter let out a hiss and fired off one of his taser webs at the man.

“Stand down Steve. He’s trapped in a nightmare,” Bucky called out softly. He then turned his attention back to Peter. “Pete, I’m not in any danger here. You know that.”

“NO! Not safe here,” Peter demanded.

“FRIDAY fill me in baby girl,” Tony could be heard saying. Bucky tuned out FRIDAY’s recap of the events and kept his attention focused on Peter.

“No Peter, it is safe here. Remember,” Bucky said. He crawled to the edge of the web and Peter let out a hiss of annoyance. “I’m not going anywhere. I just want to get a bit closer.”

Peter shuffled across the wall slightly, keeping the others in his line of sight. Should any of them move, he would no doubt attack.

“Pete, we are in the Tower. There is nowhere safer than here,” Bucky kept his tone gentle and level. Peter continued to shuffle closer to the web before finally climbing into it with Bucky.

“Safe?” Peter asked, confusion and fear lacing his tone. He let out another hiss as Sam’s voice could be heard but Bucky drew Peter’s attention back to him. “NO, danger.”

“No Pete there’s no danger, we are safe here. Those voices, those are our friends. One is Steve, one is Sam, one is Rhodey, one is your Mama Spider and the other is Tony,” Bucky said, and a hint of recognition shot through Peter’s eyes.

“ _Мама Паук, железный папа_ (Mama Spider, Iron Dad?)?” Peter asked and Bucky tried to hold in a laugh.

“Yes Peter, your _Мама Паук_ and _железный папа,_ ” Bucky replied. Peter appeared to be relaxing as they spoke. His movements were becoming lazier and his eyes started to droop. “They are down there, and they just want to know that you are safe. You are safe here _маленький паук_ (little spider). No one would dare hurt you here.”

Peter crawled over to Bucky and surprised the soldier by curling up in his lap. Bucky wrapped his arms around the teen and Peter nestled into his chest.

“ _Сейчас безопасно, дядя Вульф_ (Safe now, Uncle Wolf),” Peter whispered before his eyes shut fully and he fell back into a deep sleep. Bucky lifted the teen into his arms and crawled over to the edge of the web. He grabbed the web Peter had initially climbed and carefully rappelled his way down to the floor.

“You ok Elsa?” Tony asked as he approached the group. Bucky nodded and carefully handed Peter off to Tony. The scientist smiled down at the teen and after a nod of appreciation, walked out of the gym.

“It’s beyond freaky when he does shit like that,” Sam said once Tony and Peter had left the gym. Bucky just shrugged and walked back over to the drones, intent on finishing his training session.

**WANDA (AND VISION – KIND OF)**

Since Pietro’s death, Wanda had found it hard to be happy. Losing her twin meant that Wanda permanently felt like a piece of her was missing. Being with Vision helped and so did being around Peter. Peter’s infectious smile and general innocence made all the bad in the world seemingly melt away.

Peter was the one who encouraged her to ask Vision out on a date. When they had returned home, Peter was waiting anxiously for her in her room and when he noticed the smile on her face, he had let out a soft, excited squeak. He had then grilled her for details and if Wanda closed her eyes, she could image Pietro was there too. The next day, Peter had given Vision his version of the shovel talk, and the android had accepted the threats with a smile. Vis enjoyed knowing that Wanda had someone looking out for her.

Wanda and Peter became close as they spent more time together. Being the two youngest, they were often left to their own devices if the other Avengers were being ‘boring adults’ and soon, Peter had Wanda educated in all things Gen Z. She soon became a Meme Queen to rival the best of them. The fact that Peter never appeared afraid of her made Wanda appreciate the boy even more. Soon enough, she had vowed to protect him no matter what.

One night when returning to the compound from a date, Wanda and Vision entered the common room to find all the Avengers awake and looking frantic.

“What’s happened? Do we need to suit up?” Wanda asked and Steve shook his head.

“FRIDAY has advised us that Peter is injured,” Steve explained, and Wanda gasped. “But we can’t find him. His AI has been damaged so FRIDAY can’t track him.”

“Isn’t there a tracking device in his suit?” Vision asked and Tony nodded.

“But from what FRIDAY can tell, most of his suit has been fried. Thankfully, he won’t be getting a chewing out from me about having Ted remove it again,” Tony replied, and Wanda smirked quickly before sobering up.

“Where was his last location?” Wanda asked after a minute of thought.

“He was most of the way back here when we got the notification,” Bruce said, and Wanda nodded. “But that still gives us a lot of terrain to cover.”

“I could try and trace his mind,” Wanda offered softly. She was still hesitant about most aspects of her power, but Peter was helping her become more confident. Plus, he was in danger, she would do whatever she needed to for her _младший брат_ (little brother).

“Do you think you can manage that, honey?” Clint asked comfortingly and Wanda smiled.

“I have to. For Peter,” Wanda replied. The team looked at her approvingly and Wanda felt a swell of pride. They walked out to the grounds and Wanda stepped forward. She pushed her powers out, searching for Peter with her mind. It was quite taxing, and she almost gave up when she felt a little spark. Peter’s mind was always a bright and perky presence that always made Wanda smile. “Got him, sort of.”

“Where do we start looking?” Tony asked.

“To the east,” Wanda replied. “But it was faint.”

“Good job, Wanda,” Steve praised, and Wanda smiled. “Alright guys, split up into twos and find our little spider.”

The Avengers moved into the trees surrounding the compound and split off into groups of two.

“You should be proud my dear,” Vis said as they walked. “You have never been able to stretch your mind this far before. I’m immensely proud of you.”

“I’ll always push myself for Pete,” Wanda replied, and Vis pressed a kiss to her temple. Wanda could hear the others moving about in the woods and it wasn’t long before Vision floated ahead of her slightly. Wanda was just getting ready to change direction when something struck her on the back. She let out a soft shriek as she was pulled back and up, but the shriek and fear subsided when she realised it was Peter. “Peter, what are you doing?”

“Cold,” Peter said and one look at his suit told Wanda all she needed to know. He was completely soaked from head to toe, he had what looked to be burn marks on the suit as well as a stab wound to his side. “Night. Should be asleep.”

“So should you _младший брат_ (little brother),” Wanda replied. As she moved, she realised Peter had essentially formed a cocoon in between two large branches. “We should get back to the compound.”

“No,” Peter said. Wanda watched as he crawled around reinforcing the cocoon with webs before he pulled Wanda to him. “Sleep here.”

Wanda could hear Vision calling her name, but she didn’t want to call out. The whole team had watched the footage of Peter protecting Bucky when he’d had a nightmare, and no one really wanted a repeat. Peter didn’t appear to be as scared as last time, but Wanda didn’t want to push it.

“What happened _младший брат_ (little brother)?” Wanda asked. Peter crawled over to her side and cuddled up against her. Wanda slipped off her jacket and threw it over him as he got comfy.

“Stupid Electro,” Peter whispered. Wanda could tell he was getting sleepy and she knew she should keep him awake until his wounds could be checked.

“Who is Electro?” Wanda asked. She could now hear the others calling for her along with Vision, but she didn’t know how Peter would respond to her calling out.

“New bad guy. He’s mean, Wanda,” Peter said, and it almost sounded like he was pouting. Sure enough, when Wanda looked down, Peter’s lower lip was jutting out. “He zapped me then threw me into the Hudson.”

“Well that’s certainly not nice,” Wanda said, and Peter nodded pathetically. While he spoke, Wanda decided to try something new with her powers.

She began stretching her mind out again until she sensed Steve’s presence. When she found it, she quickly apologised as she pushed a thought into his head.

_*Sorry Steve but I can’t call out. We are in a cocoon about 200 yards from where Vision and I started looking*_

She immediately left Steve’s head once she had transmitted the message and cuddled into Peter some more.

“What happened to your side Peter?” Wanda asked. The blood was flowing sluggishly, and Wanda pressed her hand to the wound.

“Electro had an electric knife. He stab and zap,” Peter whimpered, and Wanda shushed him softly. “He’s mean!”

“He is. But we will tell your _Мама паук_ (Mama spider) and _Дядя Вольф_ (Uncle Wolf) and they will help teach him some manners,” Wanda said fondly, and Peter let out a soft purr.

Wanda was softly humming to the nearly asleep spider when Vision phased into the cocoon, causing her to jolt suddenly. Before Vis could speak, Peter sat up and fired his web-shooter at the android. Wanda couldn’t hold back the giggle as the web covered his face, stopping him from speaking. Vision wiped the webs off his face and raised an eyebrow as Wanda giggled.

“You disrupted his nap,” Wanda whispered between his giggles and Vision shook his head fondly. “Back up. I’ll open the cocoon and get us out.”

Vision phased out of the cocoon and Wanda carefully tore a hole in the side with her powers. Using her powers, she picked Peter up and floated him out of the hole, into Tony’s waiting arms. Once he was clear, Wanda climbed out of the cocoon and dropped into Vision’s arms.

“Thanks Wanda,” Tony said as the group walked back towards the compound. “Did he say what happened?”

“New bad guy, Electro. Stabbed him in the side with an electric knife and dropped him in the Hudson after electrocuting him,” Wanda explained, and Tony let out a soft growl. The growl was sleepily echoed by Peter, but no other noise came from the boy. “His healing seems to be taking care of the stab wound. He probably only needs a dressing on it.”

When they arrived at the compound, Tony rushed Peter off to the medbay while the others split off and returned to their rooms. Vision dropped Wanda off at her room and kissed her on the forehead before floating down to his own room. Wanda got ready for bed and snuggled under the covers; her use of her powers having worn her out.

The next morning, she woke up to two bodies pressed to either side of hers. She opened her eyes and noticed Vision on one side, smiling down at her. She looked to her right and grinned as Peter cuddled further into her.

“He dragged me in here around 4 this morning darling,” Vision commented. “He actually managed to surprise me.”

“I don’t mind,” Wanda replied. She wrapped her arm around her little brother and cuddled both her and the teen back into Vision. They could stay in bed a bit longer; it had been a long night after all.

**NATASHA**

“This kid needs to stop the sacrificial bullshit,” Nat murmured as she paced back and forth outside one of the private rooms in the med bay. The team had been on a mission in Sudan when they’d been overrun by Hydra insurgents. Peter had initially been tasked with safely evacuating the hostages that they were tasked with rescuing. Once they were safely on the Quinjet, Peter had returned to help the others.

He had just finished webbing up a small group of fighters when he had noticed one of them take aim at a distracted Sam. Peter had thrown himself in the line of fire and had taken four bullets to the torso and thighs. He had hit the ground hard to the sound of Tony’s anguished cry. The other Avengers resumed their assault with an intense vigour as Tony and Rhodey rushed to the fallen teen.

“Take the first Quinjet and go,” Steve had ordered over the comms as Tony scooped Peter up. “Fury has a second Quinjet arriving shortly. Spider-Man needs the transport more urgently.”

Tony and Rhodey did as directed and once the Avengers were sure the Quinjet was in the air, they returned their full focus to the battle. It didn’t take long for the battle to end and in that time, the second Quinjet had arrived and once the surviving insurgents were rounded up, the Avengers climbed aboard the aircraft and jetted back to New York.

When they arrived at the Tower, they found Tony, Rhodey, and Pepper sitting outside the operating room.

“Tony. Report,” Nat had ordered. Tony couldn’t reply, instead keeping his head in his hands. It was then Natasha noticed his body was shaking violently.

“Helen took him straight into surgery,” Pepper finally answered. “Two bullets entered his upper chest; one his stomach and one entered his thigh. Helen was worried about the proximity of the bullets to Peter’s femoral and iliac arteries.”

“When he wakes up, I’m gunna kill him,” Sam hissed out and the team looked at him with concern. The whole trip back from Sudan, Sam had been beating himself up about what had happened.

“He’s strong and Helen is the best at what she does,” Bruce said softly. “He’ll be ok.”

“Tony, go shower,” Pepper said after a moment. “In fact, all of you shower. Helen will probably be in there for a while. Go shower and get some coffee or something. I’ll wait here.”

The group had reluctantly left because when Pepper ordered you to do something, you damn well did it.

It was another 4 hours before any news was heard. Helen called the team in to give them an update.

“Luckily, none of the bullets sliced any of the major arteries,” Helen started, and all the team breathed a sigh of relief. “There was still a fair amount of internal bleeding but between our intervention and his natural healing, Peter should be up and web-swinging by the end of next week.”

“Thank you, Helen,” Tony said softly. “Can I see him?”

“Yes, but only a few at a time,” Helen replied. Tony, Pepper, and Rhodey went in first and the other Avengers formed a line outside the room.

Nat had decided she would be the last in so that she could spend the night watching over her Spider Baby. Once all the others had been in to visit, the doctors needed to check Peter before Nat could enter the room. This led to Nat pacing back and forth.

Just as Nat’s patience was running thin, a nurse came barrelling out of the room.

“What the hell is going on?” Nat demanded as the woman attempted to run past her.

“He’s gone. I need Dr Cho,” the nurse answered before ripping her arm out of Nat’s now limp grasp and running down the hall. Her heart stopped at the thought of her _ребенок паук_ (baby spider) being gone. He couldn’t be gone. She couldn’t deal with a world without his smile. Nat slammed open the door, expecting to see Peter’s lifeless form. Instead, the bed was empty.

“ _Дерьмо!_ (Shit!)” Nat said as she pulled one of her knives out of her waistband. The windows were shut firmly so there was no way someone could have gotten in through there and no one had come past her. Nat then, remembering what Bruce had told her about spiders and knowing that Peter had a habit of going up high, began searching the ceiling. Sure enough, Peter had wedged himself into the corner of the room that gave him a clear view of the door. “You will be the death of us all ребенок паук.”

When Dr Cho, Tony, Pepper, and Bruce entered the room next, they found Natasha sitting in a corner of the room. She had two knives resting on her lap and was using a third to clean under her fingernails. Above her head still wedged into the corner of the ceiling was a peacefully sleeping Peter.

**TONY, PEPPER, AND RHODEY**

After Peter had been injured on the Sudan mission, Tony and Pepper had decided that in order for him to recuperate properly, he should be away from the city. Luckily, they had just finalised the purchase of a house upstate by a lake. Once Peter was cleared, and after receiving permission from May, he was bundled up by Pepper and Tony and the trio made their way upstate to the Lake House.

“This is gorgeous,” Peter said as they climbed out of the car. Tony and Pepper smiled at the teen who was looking around at the property in awe.

“Come on kid. The inside is just as good,” Tony said fondly. He carefully threw an arm around Peter’s shoulder and led him towards the front door. Pepper opened the door and Tony led Peter inside. “Now, obviously this is the living room. The kitchen is through there, dining room is to your left and everything else is upstairs. Come on.”

While Tony led Peter upstairs, Pepper moved into the kitchen to start a pot of coffee. Upstairs, Tony was explaining the layout of the floor to Peter who, despite his eagerness, was starting to tire.

“Shit, sorry bud. Forgot you’re still on bed rest,” Tony said when he noticed Peter attempting to muffle a yawn. “Come on. Bedtime for Spider-Kid.”

Tony pushed open one of the doors and Peter’s yawn turned into a gasp. The room was too well furnished to be a guest room. There were Star Wars posters hanging on one wall and on another were photos of Peter and the Avengers.

“I’m sure you’ve figured out that this is your room,” Tony said with a fond smile. Peter was staring around the room in awe. What really caught his gaze however was the large four-post bed sitting against one of the walls.

“If I wasn’t injured, I would be throwing myself onto that bed,” Peter said after a minute. “I would be bouncing in pillows by now.”

“When you are better, you can bounce to your heart’s content,” Tony replied. He wrapped his arm back around Peter’s shoulders and led him over to the side of the bed. “For now though, you need to sleep. Alright, shoes off.”

Tony helped Peter climb under the covers and even went so far as to tuck him in.

“Pep and I will be just downstairs. If you need anything, just shout. FRI may not be hooked up in the house, but she is still attached to our phones. If you need me, she can get me,” Tony said softly as he pushed Peter’s curls back from his forehead.

“Mhm. Ok,” Peter said sleepily. Tony smiled as the teen cuddled into the nest of pillows around him. “Goodnight Dad.”

Tony left the room with a stunned smile across his face. When he entered the kitchen, Pepper looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

“He called me Dad,” Tony said breathlessly, and Pepper smiled fondly. “That obviously means I’m the favourite.”

“Mhm sure it does honey,” Pepper said teasingly. Tony pressed a kiss to Pepper’s head and, with a spring in his step, walked over to the counter to pour himself some coffee.

The rest of the afternoon passed by in peaceful silence for the IronCouple. They spent their time looking at books about gardening and whatnot, wanting to fully embrace the offline lifestyle the lake house offered them.

At 5, Pepper stood and began to make dinner. At 5:30, a car pulled into the driveway and Rhodey stepped out of the car.

“Hey Platypus,” Tony called as Rhodey let himself into the house. Rhodey walked past the kitchen, kissing Pepper on the cheek as he passed, and sat down beside Tony on the lounge.

“Hey Tones,” Rhodey replied. He then looked around the room and smiled. “This is cosy. I like it.”

“Mhm. Same here,” Tony replied. “So, what brings you here?”

“I wanted to check in on the Spider-Kid. And, I need a break from that compound. Once Peter is feeling better, can we get him to call Sam. That guy has spent the whole afternoon beating himself up. He’s been in the gym most of the day trying to ‘improve himself’. Seriously, he’s about one conversation away from driving Bucky mental,” Rhodey explained and Tony laughed softly.

“Once Pete is awake and alert, we’ll call Sam,” Tony replied. “Now that you’re here, why don’t you stay for dinner?”

“Sounds good,” Rhodey replied just as Pepper emerged from the kitchen.

“Dinner is about 20 minutes away. Could you head upstairs and get Peter please,” Pepper asked and both men nodded. Tony led the way up to Peter’s bedroom and pushed open the door.

“Um Tones?” Rhodey said as he pointed to the empty bed. Tony swore softly and began searching around the room for a potential hiding space. “Ok, so he’s not in here. Where would he be?”

“I have no idea,” Tony replied and both men tore out of the room.

“Pep, Spider-Kid has gone missing again,” Rhodey said as he walked into the kitchen. Tony was frantically searching upstairs and Rhodey volunteered to check downstairs.

“This child will be the death of all of us,” Pepper said, her tone a mix of exasperation and fondness. She turned the burners on the stove down and followed Rhodey out of the kitchen.

The IronFam frantically searched the lake house for their missing spider and the group had regrouped in the living room to decide what to do next.

“We should start searching outside,” Tony commented. “Maybe he crawled out there without even realising.”

Pepper was about to reply when she felt something drop down onto her head. She looked up and couldn’t help the soft scream that passed her lips. Tony and Rhodey looked up as well and both men paled. There was Peter, wedged into the high rafters of the living room ceiling. They’d all been anticipating this but what they weren’t anticipating was seeing Peter wrapped in the blanket off Tony and Pepper’s bed hanging by only his feet from the rafters.

“We need to get something under him,” Pepper said frantically. Rhodey and Tony jumped into action and pulled the lounge so that it was resting directly under where Peter would fall (if he suddenly lost his stickiness). “This is insane. We need to get him down!”

“Ok, Rhodey and I will do that,” Tony said, and Pepper nodded before spinning on her heel and walking back into the kitchen. “This kid is going to send me to an early grave.”

“I’ll make sure “scared to death by Spider-Kid” is written on your tombstone,” Rhodey teased and Tony flipped him off quickly. “So how do we do this?”

Eventually, Rhodey and Tony brought a ladder in from the garden shed and with Rhodey stabilising it, Tony climbed to the top.

“Hey Pete,” Tony said softly when he reached the boy. Slowly, Peter opened his eyes and looked at Tony in confusion. “Hey bud.”

“Mr Stark,” Peter said, sleep heavily lacing his tone. “Why are you upside down?”

“I’m not bud,” Tony said fondly. Peter looked around him and Rhodey had to laugh at the look on his face.

“Am I on the roof again?” Peter asked and Tony nodded. “I’m sorry.”

“That’s alright buddy. How about you come down though. Pep has finished dinner and it will definitely be easier to eat while sitting at the table,” Tony said. Peter nodded and instead of trying to climb down the ladder himself, Peter ended up cuddling Tony like a koala and sticking to him. When Tony reached the base of the ladder, he glared at Rhodey, who had been taking pictures. “I won’t tell Sam all the embarrassing stories I have of you if you send me those pictures.”

“Me too,” Peter piped in sleepily and Rhodey rolled his eyes at both of them. ‘Dad, I’m hungry.”

“Well then you are just in time for dinner,” Pepper said as she made her way out of the kitchen. She walked over to Tony and ran her fingers through Peter’s hair. “Hey baby. Did you sleep well?”

“I did. Sorry for scaring you mom,” Peter said. He slowly untangled himself from Tony and walked into the kitchen, the blanket trailing after him. Pepper meanwhile was staring after the boy with tears in her eyes.

“He called me mom,” Pepper said, and Tony wrapped an arm around her shoulders. He kissed Pepper on the temple and the three adults of the IronFam made their way into the kitchen for their first family dinner in their new home.

**BONUS: NICK FURY AND MARIA HILL**

Nick Fury walked into the empty conference room on Floor 79 of Stark Tower and flicked on the lights. He and Maria were at the Tower for a meeting with the Avengers and while Maria had stepped out to call the team, Fury decided to go in and set up.

He had just sat down and was logging into his computer when a soft noise made him jump. He pulled his gun and it was at that moment that Maria walked in. she noticed Nick with his gun out and pulled hers out too.

Fury raised a finger to his lips and Maria nodded. Fury was looking around the room but couldn’t see anything. He was just getting ready to put his gun away when a quick movement caught his eye. He looked up and tensed.

“What the actual fuck?” He yelled and Maria had only a second to look at what Fury was looking at before a soft scream was heard. “MOTHERFUCKER!”

A sleepy Peter Parker had very ungracefully unstuck from the ceiling at Fury’s yell and dropped down onto the man with a loud thud. Maria looked at her boss who was laying under the Spider-Kid and couldn’t stop the giggle from escaping her lips. Fury glared up at her but that look, mixed in with Peter’s frantic apologies, had Maria bursting out laughing.

When the rest of the Avengers arrived at the conference room, Maria was slumped in a chair laughing herself silly while Peter was frantically dusting a bemused Fury off. Tony had asked FRIDAY for the footage and, needless to say, the footage of Fury being terrified was a staple at Avengers’ movie nights for months to come.

**Author's Note:**

> If people like this, I may do an extra chapter with the extra Avengers. Let me know if this is something you'd want :) Hope you enjoyed this :)


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